At 51, investors told her she was too old to start a business.
Instead she sold her house and built a $250 million brand.
The story of Trinny Woodall 馃У
At fifteen, Trinny hated her own face.
Severe acne for seventeen years. In her words, debilitating 馃憞
She "covered everything, always", and grew up with no confidence at all.
So she went looking for it in other people.
Years of making over her friends, working out what suited them, until she realised she was good at it.
So she made a career out of it 馃憞
In 1994 she met Susannah Constantine.
They started a newspaper column on what clothes actually suited normal women's bodies, not models.
It ran for seven years 馃憞
Then television came calling.
Five series of What Not To Wear, rebuilding strangers' wardrobes and their confidence along with it.
She became the woman the nation trusted to tell them what suited them 馃憞
Then it fell apart.
The TV work dried up and took her confidence with it. In 2014 she lost Johnny, her ex husband and one of her closest friends.
At fifty, with nothing left of the career that made her name 馃憞
Growing up with skin problems meant she knew everything about skincare. She'd always dreamt of her own brand.
"Nothing worse can happen now, so I should take the greatest risk." 馃憞
So she funded it herself.
Sold her Notting Hill home for 拢5 million. Sold her clothes.
At 53, with no home and no wardrobe, she started Trinny London from a kitchen table 馃憞
But she wasn't building a makeup brand.
She was building what she needed at fifteen and never got. Something to tell a girl exactly what suited her, so she'd never spend seventeen years learning to hide 馃憞
